Carbon composite materials with high surface area are desirable in many industrial applications such as in catalysis, electrochemical devices and water treatment. Some of the existing techniques for synthesis of silica-carbon composites include pyrolysis of two-phase copolymers formed of carbonaceous and siloxane domains using a sol-gel process. However, such techniques do not provide any control over tenability of porosity of the carbon composite materials.
Further, techniques such as supercritical drying, hydrothermal and colloidal silica based templating methods may be used to produce tailored porous carbon materials with high surface area. However, these techniques are substantially expensive, and are process intensive.